Car News: "Koreans take on the kei car culture with the Kia Ray"

**ghosthunter** · November 14th, 2011 11:51 AM

[SIZE=4]Koreans take on the kei car culture with the Kia Ray[/SIZE]
Words by Christopher Kho | Photos courtesy of Kia Motors Corporation

After the second World War ended, Kei cars were born out of necessity in a war-stricken Japan as a cheap means of transport for the people. Most of them ran on just three cylinders and stood on less than 1/3 of a regular sedan's footprint, which exempted them from local tax and insurance regulations. Today, the Kei car culture is still very much alive in Japan. And from the looks of it, they have inspired the creative minds at Kia.

Feast your eyes on the all-new Kia Ray compact vehicle, which is about to enter production. Take a good look now, because there's only a slight chance that you'll ever see one in the flesh. Why, you ask? Well, the selective - and almost possessive - big wigs at Kia's headquarters decided that this cute little number will only be sold exclusively in the company's home market of Korea....

click the link to continue: Koreans take on the kei car culture with the Kia Ray

LINK: Koreans take on the kei car culture with the Kia Ray

**leopaul** · November 17th, 2011 03:48 PM

Unbelievable. This is a complete knock-off of the Daihatsu Tanto!

**jave** · November 17th, 2011 03:56 PM

Or maybe it's built under license.

**niky** · November 17th, 2011 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by leopaul

Unbelievable. This is a complete knock-off of the Daihatsu Tanto!

Unbelievable! That Daihatsu is a complete knock-off of the Suzuki Wagon R!

If two (or, in this case, three) different manufacturers try to make the most spacious car they can make within the same size envelope they're obviously going to look similar.

Next you're going to tell me the Nissan NV350 is a complete knock-off of the Toyota HiAce.

**Ry_Tower** · November 17th, 2011 07:12 PM

^ hahaha, kala mo sinasadyang gayahin ah.

**Ginnova** · November 17th, 2011 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by niky

Unbelievable! That Daihatsu is a complete knock-off of the Suzuki Wagon R!

If two (or, in this case, three) different manufacturers try to make the most spacious car they can make within the same size envelope they're obviously going to look similar.

eto pa isang kamuka. toyota BB.

**leopaul** · November 30th, 2011 08:45 AM

Here's the interior of the Kia Ray

As you haven't heard, it's now on sale in Korea! Still, it was rubbish to bring it to the PH. :-(

**niky** · December 1st, 2011 01:59 PM

Why rubbish?

**Retz** · December 1st, 2011 02:06 PM

looks like an apv.

**leopaul** · December 2nd, 2011 05:29 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Why rubbish?

Because this design is unfit for us. It's just an impersonation of the Daihatsu Tanto.

Like the Daihatsu Tanto, the Kia Ray has one sliding door at the passenger side. Under the hood, The Kia Ray is powered by the 1.0L gasoline engine that produces 78ps of power, 9.6kg-m of torque, and it has 17km/L of fuel economy while on the Kia Ray Bifuel, which comes with the 1.0L LPG engine that has the same power and torque, can go up to 16.6km/L in Gasoline mode and 13.2km/L in LPG mode. It is mated with a rubbish 4-speed automatic transmission.

I checked that at the official Korean website.

http://www.kia.co.kr/vehicles/ray/